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Ireland tops table after convincing victory over Namibia

William Porterfield’s men complete the formalities on the fourth morning to register win by an innings and 107 runs

Ireland had the fairly straightforward task of picking up three wickets on the final day of its four-day tie against Namibia to notch up its second win in the ICC Intercontinental Cup on Tuesday (October 27) and it did so without much fuss.

Namibia resisted for a little over an hour, adding 39 runs in the process, but Ireland wrapped up the formalities to surge the top of the points table with a win by an innings and 107 runs at Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek.

The Ireland bowlers, who were clinical in bowling Namibia out for 251 in the first innings, were as effective in Namibia’s second hit, reducing it to 169 for 7 by end of the third day. In the end, 212 is all Namibia managed.

Namibia’s response, over two innings, was to Ireland’s first-innings total of 570 for 6 declared, which came on the back of William Porterfield’s 186 and 205 in 201 balls from Ed Joyce, who was named the Man of the Match.

With Namibia 319 runs behind when it started its second innings, Tim Murtagh ran through the top order, picking up three of the first four wickets to fall to leave the scoreboard reading 12 for 4. Murtagh later picked up JP Cotze’s wicket to finish with 4 for 18 as Namibia ended the third day on 173 for 7.

JJ Smit and Zane Green, the overnight batsmen, gave Namibia hope of at least reducing the margin of defeat when they added 47 runs for the eighth wicket on the third evening and then batted for 37 more on the final morning. Smit scored 45 from 110 balls, while Green made 35 from 111, but once Paul Stirling, who had scalped the prize wicket of Sarel Burger earlier, sent back Smit, the end was around the corner.

George Dockrell then joined the act to bring a swift end to Namibia’s resistance. Dockrell (3 for 55) got rid of Green and followed it up with the wicket of Christopher Coombe the very next delivery to finish the game on a hat-trick.

Ireland, which had defeated United Arab Emirates by an innings and 26 runs in its opening tie, has 40 points now, followed by the Netherlands with 26 and Namibia in third place with 20.

The next Intercontinental Cup fixture is between UAE and Hong Kong, the two teams at the bottom of the eight-team table, at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai from November 11 to 14.